(Note: Sorry for the cheesy title and I know that this is a little long, but I think you'll find it useful if you're unfamiliar with most of the "inner-workings" of Avant)

Before you post, here are some things you might want to try on your own. Generally, these things will be brought up once you do post and might just save you some time. For some, these steps are easily taken on their own. If you feel unsure of how to proceed, do not hesitate to post. Although, if your problem has been posted and resolved, there is a chance your thread will be locked and deleted after a period of time. That's necessary to keep the forum small so others can find things, too. But, this is not meant as a deterrent to posting your problem. The more issues that are found are the more that can be fixed, but keeping the total number of posts low will help people follow threads easier.

Try these steps first:

Check the forum - Use the "Search" link to see if other people have had the issue you are having. This does two things: 1. Fixes your problem quickly if it has been brought up before. And 2. If it is an actual bug in the program, and the fix was a "workaround" around this bug, you can post that you had the same problem and this will let it be known how often this bug is affecting users' browsing... possibly moving it up on the "To Fix" list. Also,

Try The Avant Tip! - Avant uses a file, "abrowser.ini", to store its settings. This file sometimes becomes corrupt and causes problems. If it is deleted, Avant re-creates it when it is loaded and many times, the problem is corrected. Try this even if your problems aren't "setting" related.

If the two items above don't help, I'd suggest posting your problem. When you do post, include what OS you are using (Windows XP, Windows 98, etc), what version of Avant (Look in "Help" -> About Avant Browser), and whether or not you have a firewall running. If you don't know, like I said before, someone here should definitely be able to help you find out.

If you're certain that your problem has not been mentioned before, or you just want to be as absolutely thorough as you can, try the following:

Re-download/re-install

This is really about three steps in one. But, most of the time starting at Step 3 will work. If not, you can try starting at Step 2. If that doesn't work try starting at Step 1. (You're getting the idea, aren't you? ) By that time, you'll have tried all of the common solutions that will be recommended to you in the forum

1. Uninstall Avant - Keep in mind that if you have skins that you have downloaded, this will erase them. I'd recommend backing them up to a different folder temporarily. (Or just ask Sara or Pip for them later. They'll be more than happy to scour over all of their skins to find the ones you poorly describe to them. <-that's a joke... really) Once uninstalled, you'll want to go to your Application Data folder (see here for directions) and delete your "Avant Browser" folder. If you have a lot of custom Searches, PopUp Exceptions, Groups, etc. you might just want to move these so that you have point of reference to re-enter all of these again.

2. Re-download Avant - There have been reports of others having problems and using a new setup file fixed them. If a new version has been released since your initial download, older releases can be found here. Be sure to thank MysteryFCM for hosting them.

3. Re-install Avant - Errors can occur while you're installing a program that will lead to problems once running or later on. Sometimes, just doing a simple re-install can get you back up again.

Hopefully this will help sort out some of the basic errors sometimes found while using Avant.

hornakapopolis

Last edited by hornakapopolis on Thu Aug 11, 2005 7:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.